Indian wrestler Yadav given four-year doping ban after WADA appeal

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav was handed a four-year doping ban on Thursday after the World Anti-Doping Agency won its appeal against his earlier exoneration.

Indian wrestler Yadav given four-year doping ban after WADA appeal

(Reuters)

An Indian anti-doping disciplinary panel had ruled earlier this month that the freestyle wrestler was a victim of "sabotage", and cleared him to compete in Rio. Freestyle wrestling starts on Friday.

Yadav had said his supplements and water had been sabotaged and lodged a police complaint against a junior wrestler accusing him of contaminating his food at the Sports Authority of India training centre in Sonepat.

WADA filed an urgent application before CAS to challenge the decision of NADA India to exonerate Yadav following two positive doping tests in June and July.

"The CAS Panel did not accept the argument of the athlete that he was the victim of sabotage and noted that there was no evidence that he bore no fault, nor that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional," CAS said, announcing a four-year period of ineligibility.

The Wrestling Federation of India has demanded a probe into the doping scandal by the country's top crime-fighting agency, while Yadav has vowed to do everything to clear his name.

"To say I am devastated at the decision of CAS would be putting it mildly," the wrestler said in a statement.

"My dream of competing and winning the country a medal at the Rio Games has been cruelly snatched away from me twelve hours before my first bout, but I will do everything it takes to prove my innocence.

"It is all I have left to fight for."

(Additional reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Ossian Shine/Greg Stutchbury)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world